Detroit Lions give away game against Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Johnthan Banks intercepts the ball after Detroit Lions wide receiver fumbled the ball near the end of the fourth quarter. Photo taken on Sunday, November 24, 2013 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. (Special to The Oakland Press/Jose Juarez)

Every opportunity was handed to the Detroit Lions to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Two late Tampa field goals were missed, a defensive holding penalty on a third-and-7 gave the Lions a first down in their final drive. The chances were there.

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“It was out of our reach, right at our finger tips,’’ wide receiver Nate Burleson said. “That’s what we kept saying in the huddle, This is our chance, now let’s go put this thing away.’ We didn’t do that. you can point to more than a handful of plays in a game.’’

Handful plus one — five turnovers and a blocked punt.

That did it. It was the second straight loss for the Lions (6-5) as they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-8) who have now won three straight.

With the Chicago Bears (6-5) losing to the St. Louis Rams 42-21, and Green Bay (5-5-1) tying Minnesota 26-26, the Lions are tied with the Bears atop the NFC North with the Packers a half game back.

It sets up a huge divisional match-up for Thanksgiving when the Lions host the Packers at Ford Field.

First things first.

Sunday’s five turnovers:
1. Matthew Stafford was intercepted on a second-and-7 at Tampa’s 22 when a pass intended for Burleson was intercepted by Lavonte David.

2. Late in the second quarter, a Stafford pass intended for Brandon Pettigrew was intercepted by Leonard Johnson after Pettigrew appeared to duck as the ball approached. Yes, duck. Johnson went 48 yards for a touchdown.

3. In the third quarter, safety Keith Tandy flew across the end zone in front of Calvin Johnson and grabbed the interception. “That’s not the best decision,’’ Stafford said.

4. In the fourth quarter, with the Lions down by three points, Kris Durham caught a 19-yard pass near the sideline and while he was trying to get a better grip on the ball it squirted out in-bounds. He said he wasn’t hit, it was just a fluke.

5. With the Lions still down by three and threatening at the Tampa 28-yard line late in the fourth, the ball bounced off Calvin Johnson and into hands of Johnthan Banks. “It’s just bang-bang, I wanted to turn up-field he got a good hit on me,’’ Johnson said. “The ball was in my hands and i don’t know if he got hands on the ball or whatever but it just came out.’’

Technically a blocked punt doesn’t count as a turnover, but when Sam Martin’s punt was blocked the Bucs’ Spencer Larsen recovered the ball.

There you go.

Oh, and Tampa Bay had zero turnovers.

In their last four games the Lions have 13 turnovers while they’ve forced just one. Not a good ratio. Amazingly the Lions won two of those, but not on Sunday.

“You can’t explain it. It was a poor performance,’’ coach Jim Schwartz said. “We had a punt blocked. We had five turnovers. We gave up a play over the top (85-yard touchdown). We played our butts off on defense the whole game and then gave up a play over the top for a touchdown and a coverage we shouldn’t have given up on that play.’’

That turned out to be the nail-in-the-coffin play.

Detroit was up 21-17 and then just barely into the fourth quarter, when rookie quarterback Mike Glennon finds Tiquan Underwood for an 85-yard pass play.

Chris Houston was done after that play with a foot injury, but Schwartz wouldn’t put the blame just on the cornerback’s shoulders. On the field, it appeared Louis Delmas was the safety on that side and instead jumped on an underneath route.

The Lions had 14 minutes left and could make nothing happen.

Johnson (seven catches, 115 yards) appeared to get a break when Tampa cornerback Darrelle Revis was forced out of the game early in the third quarter with a groin injury. Instead the Bucs’ defense changed up their scheme.

“They were devoting an awful lot of coverage to him,’’ Schwartz said. “We had opportunities to run the ball. I don’t think we did a good enough job running the ball. He still had opportunities.’’

Burleson, Joe Fauria and Brandon Pettigrew each caught touchdown passes so it wasn’t like the offense wasn’t working at all.

Stafford, who had just eight interceptions in the first 10 games, struggled going 26 of 46 for 297 yards, three touchdowns, four interceptions.

“(I) can’t make bad decisions,’’ Stafford said. “Had a couple bad ones, had a couple unlucky bounces. You do that, you turn the ball over five times, have a punt blocked and all that, the minus part of the turnover ratio for a long time now. We’ve got to get that fixed.’’

They’ve got three days.

A season’s success could hinge on their ability to turn the train around and get it back on the tracks on Thanksgiving.